Golf
The ninth hole runs parallel with Milford Haven, a deep, natural harbour that has been operating as a port since the Middle Ages. The jetty is used by ocean-going tankers serving the Murco refinery, located less than a mile north of the golf course
“It’s amazing the difference that a few hundred metres makes to the ability of soils to allow
satisfactory downward movement of water”
often, being able to call on additional specialist equipment and manpower has proved extremely helpful to the club and myself since we were forced by economic pressures to cut greenkeeping staff levels in 2008,” explained Kevin. “Including myself, the course is now looked after by just three people, one of whom is a trainee part paid-for by a government salary-support scheme.” Kevin pointed out that, despite being maintained on a tightly-controlled budget, the golf course does benefit from having a modern and efficient machinery fleet, ensuring that work programmes are completed in a timely and effective manner by the greens staff. “I liaise closely with the club’s secretary
and greens’ chairman, both of whom understand that low labour resources demand appropriate mechanisation if the course is to be kept looking and playing to a consistently high standard,” he said. “These essentials will take on heightened importance as we enter our centenary year and prepare for a number of high profile events.”
Course Manager, Kevin Rawlins, has been responsible for providing first- class playing surfaces for golfers since autumn 2001
26 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013
Amongst the tournaments due to be hosted by Milford Haven Golf Club in 2013 are the Dyfed County Championship in June and the Welsh Team Championship in mid August, the first time that Wales’ premier team event will have been staged in the far west of the country. “I am expecting 2013 to be the most demanding of the eleven years that I have been managing the course,” commented Kevin. “Not only will the Golf Union of Wales be advising on how the course should be set up for the team championship, but members and visitors will be looking to see a little extra polish around the course during the coming year.” To achieve this, he is able to call on a willing group of volunteers, drawn from the membership, who appreciate the
benefits to the club if they assist with time-consuming tasks such as divoting, bunker raking and sweeping-in of topdressings following the main spring and autumn hollow coring programmes. With appropriate back-up from members, Kevin says that he feels well prepared to handle the challenges of the coming year, supported by first assistant, Stephen Atyeo, and assistant greenkeeper, Shaun Dyson. Kevin’s confidence derives, in part,
from the six years he spent as deputy head greenkeeper at Wentworth before moving the 230 miles west to Pembrokeshire.
During his time at Wentworth, he helped prepare the West Course for the annual World Matchplay Championship and for the PGA Championship. More recently, Kevin gained further valuable event experience by working as a volunteer during the 2010 Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort. He is also a qualified Greenkeeping Level 3 assessor. When he took up the course manager’s position in autumn 2001, he found a golf club with high aspirations and ample potential for both expansion and upgrading. To help achieve those aims, Kevin had access to a useful area of “nursery” turf, and a large amount of quality topsoil that had been secured by the club following the building of the refinery and other industrial facilities close by.
One of the first essential jobs identified
by Kevin on the course was improvement of the nine greens that had been constructed in the late 1970s, when the original nine-hole layout was extended to 18. “All of the newer greens are located on the lower side of the golf course nearest to the waterway, where the subsoil is predominantly silty-clays over sandstone,” he explained. “I tried every form of mechanical treatment available to me, but
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